Read or Dead

Book Riot

5.0 (5)
BOOKS
TWICE MONTHLY

Read or Dead is a bi-weekly show dedicated to the worlds of mystery and thriller literature.

4 DAYS AGO

Feminist Mysteries

Katie McLain Horner and honorary reading assassin Liberty Hardy talk about mysteries with feminist themes for Women's History Month. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more mystery/thriller recs and news, sign up for our Unusual Suspects newsletter! Trust your reading list to the experts at Tailored Book Recommendations! The professional book nerds (aka bibliologists) at TBR have recommended over 160,000 books to readers of all kinds. Let TBR match you with your next favorite read! Simply fill out a quick survey about what you want more of in your reading life, and your bibliologist will scour their bookish knowledge to find three reads they think you’ll love. Choose from receiving just the recommendations via email, or opt to have paperbacks or hardcovers delivered right to your door. Get started for only $18 at mytbr.co! News Bram Stoker Award finalists Janelle Monáe to Play Tanya Smith, Con Artist Behind $40 Million Heist, in ‘Never Saw Me Coming’ Movie Adaptation This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Books Discussed Katabasis - R.F. Kuang Notes on an Execution - Danya Kukafka Bright Young Women - Jessica Knoll Never Saw Me Coming - Vera Kurian My Sister, the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite Broken Fields - Marcie R. Rendon Black Tunnel White Magic: A Murder, a Detective’s Obsession, and ’90s Los Angeles at the Brink - Matthew McGough, Rick Jackson Kills Well With Others - Deanna Raybourne Accidents Happen - F.H. Batacan The Man Nobody Killed: Life, Death, and Art in Michael Stewart's New York - Elon Green Find Katie on Twitter @kt_librarylady Find Liberty on Instagram @franzencomesalive / Bluesky @LibertyHardy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

51 min
21 FEB

Destination Book Recommendations

Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester recommend books set in the locations of their 2025 vacations! Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more mystery/thriller recs and news, sign up for our Unusual Suspects newsletter! A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. To get recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. All Access subscribers get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. You can become an All Access member starting at $6 per month or $60 per year to get unlimited access to all members-only content in 20+ newsletters, community features, and the warm fuzzies of knowing you are supporting independent media. To join, visit bookriot.com/readharder. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Books Discussed Everywhere That Mary Went - Lisa Scottoline Murder by Degrees - Ritu Mukerji Penitence - Kristin Koval The Jigsaw Man - Nadine Matheson Notes on Surviving the Fire - Christine Murphy The Dream Hotel - Laila Lalami If you want to send an email with feedback or show suggestions, you can reach us at readordead@bookriot.com. Otherwise you can: Find Katie on Twitter @kt_librarylady Find Kendra on Instagram and BlueSky @kdwinchester and on TikTok @kendrawinchester And we will talk to you all next time! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

43 min
7 FEB

Mysteries and Thrillers for Black History Month

Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester recommend mysteries and thrillers for Black History Month! Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more mystery/thriller recs and news, sign up for our Unusual Suspects newsletter! A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. To get recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. All Access subscribers get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. You can become an All Access member starting at $6 per month or $60 per year to get unlimited access to all members-only content in 20+ newsletters, community features, and the warm fuzzies of knowing you are supporting independent media. To join, visit bookriot.com/readharder. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. News Edgar Award Nominees Books Discussed Our Winter Monster - Dennis Mahoney All Her Little Secrets - Wanda M. Morris Anywhere You Run - Wanda M. Morris What You Leave Behind - Wanda M. Morris Jackal - Erin E. Adams From the Desk of Zoe Washington - Janae Marks My Darkest Prayer - S.A. Cosby If you want to send an email with feedback or show suggestions, you can reach us at readordead@bookriot.com. Otherwise you can: Find Katie on Twitter @kt_librarylady Find Kendra on Instagram and BlueSky @kdwinchester and on TikTok @kendrawinchester And we will talk to you all next time! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

45 min
24 JAN

Our Book Recommendations for the 2025 Read Harder Challenge

Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester recommend mystery and thriller books to fulfill prompts for the 2025 Read Harder Challenge. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more mystery/thriller recs and news, sign up for our Unusual Suspects newsletter! A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. To get recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. All Access subscribers get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. You can become an All Access member starting at $6 per month or $60 per year to get unlimited access to all members-only content in 20+ newsletters, community features, and the warm fuzzies of knowing you are supporting independent media. To join, visit bookriot.com/readharder. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. News Tom Holland is producing and starring in an adaptation of The Partner by John Grisham. Everything you need to know about Osgood Perkins’ adaptation of The Monkey, based on the short story by Stephen King. Books Discussed Read Harder 2025 Theme Music - T. Marie Vandelly The Dark Maestro - Brendan Slocumb Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers - Jessie Q. Sutanto A Sea of Unspoken Things - Adrienne Young Our Winter Monster - Dennis Mahoney Tell Me What You Did - Carter Wilson If you want to send an email with feedback or show suggestions, you can reach us at readordead@bookriot.com. Otherwise you can: Find Katie on Twitter @kt_librarylady Find Kendra on Instagram and BlueSky @kdwinchester and on TikTok @kendrawinchester And we will talk to you all next tim Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

44 min
10 JAN

Our Most Anticipated Books of 2025

Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discuss their most anticipated thriller and mystery books of 2025. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more mystery/thriller recs and news, sign up for our Unusual Suspects newsletter! A new year means a new Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons. To get recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. All Access subscribers get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. You can become an All Access member starting at $6 per month or $60 per year to get unlimited access to all members-only content in 20+ newsletters, community features, and the warm fuzzies of knowing you are supporting independent media. To join, visit bookriot.com/readharder. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Books Discussed: The Mother Next Door: Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy - Andrea Dunlop & Mike Weber The Dream Hotel - Laila Lalami King of Ashes - SA Cosby They All Fall the Same - Wes Browne The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones Immaculate Conception - Ling Ling Huang If you want to send an email with feedback or show suggestions, you can reach us at readordead@bookriot.com. Otherwise you can: Find Katie on Twitter @kt_librarylady Find Kendra on Instagram and BlueSky @kdwinchester and on TikTok @kendrawinchester And we will talk to you all next time! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

37 min
27/12/2024

[Rerun] Our Most Anticipated Books of the First Half of 2024

We are off this holiday week, so we're sharing this rerun from the top of the year to reflect back on the titles we were most looking forward to in the first half of 2024! Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more mystery/thriller recs and news, sign up for our Unusual Suspects newsletter! This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. NEWS “Our Most Anticipated Crime Fiction Novels of 2024” (Novel Suspects) BOOKS DISCUSSED One of the Good Guys - Araminta Hall (January 9) The Night of the Storm - Nishita Parekh (Jan. 16th) The Hunter - Tana French (March 5) Blessed Water - Margot Douaihy (March 12th) The Woods All Black - Lee Mandelo (March 19th) The Angel of Indian Lake - Stephen Graham Jones (March 26th) Butter: A Novel of Food & Murder - Asako Yuzuki, transl. Polly Barton (April 16) One of Us Knows - Alyssa Cole (April 16) Supplication - Nour Abi-Nakhoul (May 24th) Middle of the Night - Riley Sager (June 18) If you want to send an email with feedback or show suggestions, you can reach us at readordead@bookriot.com. Otherwise you can: Find Kendra on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester Find Katie on Twitter @kt_librarylady And we will talk to you all next time! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

49 min
13/12/2024

Our Favorite Books of 2024

Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discuss their favorite books from 2024! Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more mystery/thriller recs and news, sign up for our Unusual Suspects newsletter! At Tailored Book Recommendations, we’ve recommended over 150,000 books to readers of every type. And we’ve got good news— TBR makes a novel gift for the book lover on your list! All your gift recipient has to do is fill out a survey about their reading likes and dislikes, and our expert bibliologists will use their bookish knowledge to round up three personalized recommendations for reads we think they’ll love. Whether they’re a mystery maven, a historical fiction fanatic, or a contemporary connoisseur, we’ve got the chops to match the book lover in your life with their next favorite read. And it only takes a few clicks to gift TBR! Simply head to mytbr.co/gift to get started. You can even schedule the delivery of the welcome email, which means no more waiting on gifts to arrive last minute. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Things Mentioned Goodreads Choice Awards: Mystery / Thriller Crime Reads Best Books Washington Post’s Best Mystery Novels Washington Post’s Best Thrillers The Guardian’s Best Mystery and Thrillers Kirkus’s Best Mystery and Thrillers NYTs Best Crime Novels Books Discussed The Hunter - Tana French The Woods All Black - Lee Mandelo Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia Guide Me Home - Attica Locke Model Home - Rivers Solomon Butter - Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton If you want to send an email with feedback or show suggestions, you can reach us at readordead@bookriot.com. Otherwise you can: Find Katie on Twitter @kt_librarylady Find Kendra on Instagram and BlueSky @kdwinchester and on TikTok @kendrawinchester And we will talk to you all next time! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

49 min
29/11/2024

Mysteries and Thrillers for Indigenous Peoples' Month

Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discuss books for Indigenous Peoples' Month! Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more mystery/thriller recs and news, sign up for our Unusual Suspects newsletter! Keep up to date with the world of books and reading with Today in Books, Book Riot's daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Our editors offer commentary, context, and the occasional clap-back to keep you informed and entertained. Visit bookriot.com/todayinbooks to subscribe for free, or become an All Access member starting at $6 per month or $60 per year and get unlimited access to members-only content in 20+ newsletters, community features, and the warm fuzzies knowing you are supporting independent media. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Books Discussed Exposure - Ramona Emerson Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference, and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls - Jessica McDiarmid Bad Cree - Jessica Johns Mongrels - Stephen Graham Jones Darkly - Marisha Pessl The Rival - Jane Pek If you want to send an email with feedback or show suggestions, you can reach us at readordead@bookriot.com. Otherwise you can: Find Katie on Twitter @kt_librarylady Find Kendra on Instagram and BlueSky @kdwinchester and on TikTok @kendrawinchester And we will talk to you all next time! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

43 min

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TRAILER

Welcome To Read Or Dead

Read or Dead is a bi-weekly mystery fiction podcast dedicated to the worlds of mystery, thriller, and true crime literature. Join hosts Alice and Kim for lots of recommendations, news updates, and more! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30/10/2020

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3 min

out of 5

5 Ratings

Wish it was weekly

08/02/2021

kairons77

I love this podcast and I wish it was weekly! One of the few mystery BOOK podcasts I’ve found, rather than true crime. Really enjoy it, and lots of humour from the hosts
Great Addition to BookRiot

20/02/2020

PodcastNic

A great addition to the ever superb BookRiot stable of podcasts. Read or Dead is insightful and the presenters are both passionate and well informed. I look forward to this dropping each fortnight.